Folding luggage-carrier



L. L. LQIVMOGES.

FOLDING LUGGAGE CARRIER.

MPLICATION FILED MAN- 6, I920- Patented Oct. 11,1921;

, 7 A? I V4 taunnnon LOUIS LIMOGES, or sroux CITY, Iowa.

roztnrne LuGeAeE-oaemnn Specification of Letters Patent. Patgntgd 1; 1 1,1921,

Application filed March 6, 1920. Serial No. 363,901.

1 '0 all whom itma z m m-0. y

Beit known that l, LAURENCE L. LIMooEs, a" citizen of the United States, residing at Sioux Uitygin the county of VVoodbury and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Folding Luggage-Carriers, of which the following is a speclfication. This inventionrelates to carriers for bagor the like of the type designed especiallyfor the'running boards of (automobiles.

An object of the invention is to provide in suchv a carrier m eansby which 1t may be securely'clamped ,to la running board and thereafter can be adjusted to any angle desired with respectto the body of the car,

whereby. diflerentsizes and shapes of luggage may be accommodated.

the carrier. y General obJects arefto "M Another objectis to construct sucha carrier with sides and make the carrier foldable or collapsible not only lengthwise but sidewise whereby the carrier will holdthe luggage independently ofthe fenders of the au tomobile and yet maybe collapsedinto a .2

space too small for the ordinary carriers.

compact package which may be put in a Another object is to provide means by c which luggage may-be carried even though the luggagebe piled high above the top of provide a device of l .the characterdescribed which isadaptable not only to the running boards ofallt-ypes of cars but may be used'in connectlon with shelves, tables, or similar supports and which istherefore of general utility. c The .invention will be best understood.

from a consideration of the following de- 1 tailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification,.with the understanding, however, that the inventionis not confined .[to .any strictconformity with the showing [in the drawing but may be changed and .Il'lOdifiGCl so long as such changes and modificat ions mark no material departure from the salient featuresof the invention asexpressed in the. appended claims. In thedrawing: X 1 y c Figure 1 is an elevation of an embodiment fof theinvention shown in placeon the running board of an automobile,

Fig. 2is an" end elevationof the carrler shown in clamped position upon therunning board, the latter being shown in section.

Fig. 3is .an elevation from the side opposite to that illustrated in Fig-1, showing the carrier collapsed.

Fig. at is a side view of the same.

Fig.5 is a side view of the intermediate clamp. V

A running board 5 of an automobile (not shown), which running board may be taken as indicative of any support, provides means upon which the device of the invention is held. The carrier includes a framework or rack made of lazy tongs, uprights secured to the ends of the lazy tongs in such a way that free expansion or collapsing of the same is permitted, clamps secured to the uprights and to the lazy tongs, and 'foldable or colend as seen in Figs. 2 and 3,,and there has an integral loop 9 through which a strap 10 i may be run. Also integral with the upright 8 and the loop 9 is a guide 11 which provides means whereby the upright may be connected with the lazy tongs and yet permit free expansion or collapsing of the same. Slides 12 aremounted onthe guides 11 and are pivotally connected as at 14- to the upper end of one of the end bars 6. The lower end of tlieother endbar is pivotally connected as at 14 with a lug 13 formed integrally with the upright 8 and extending inwardly from a point near the extreme end thereof. Whenthe carrier is expanded the slides 12 will move to the lower end of the guides 11. and when it is collapsed they will move to the upper ends thereof, as shown in Fig. 3.

The sides of the carrier comprise a pair of flat bars .16 and17 pivotally connected at their ends to each other as indicated at 18. The other end of the bar 16 is pivotally connected as at 15 to the adjacent upright8.

The other end of the bar 17 is pivotally connected as at 20 nearthe outeruend of the arm 19 of the clamp. The arm 19 carries bearing plates 21 and 23 to permit the carrier to be supported firmly upon the running board. These plates are perfectly circular in outline, as shown, the plate 21 being formed at the free end of the arm 19 of the clamp while the plate 23 is formed near the opposite end of said arm. The plate 21 has an integral loop 22 to receive a strap 10, this loop being similar to the loop 9.

The extreme lower end of the upright 8 has a serrated disk or ratchet plate 24 formed integrally therewith adapted to cooperate with a similar plate or disk 25 formed upon the end of: an arm 26 of the clamp. A bolt provides means whereby the clamp and the upright may be swung relatively to each other, said" bolt passing through both of the disks or plates and carrying a wing nut 28 or similar means to clamp the serrated faces of the plates to gether to hold the carrier in any adjusted position relatively to the clamps. Two such positions are indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. lVhen the nuts 28 are loosened, the carrier and the clamps which support the carrier may be swung relatively to each other, but when the nuts are tightened the clamps and the carrier body will be rigid with respect to each other. This swinging of the carrier lQOCly causes a change in the position of the sides and permits the accommodation of bundles and baggage of widely varying sizes and shapes. The free end of the lower arm 26 of the clamp has a thumb screw 27 or similar device adapted to press against the under side of the running board or shelf to cooperate with the plates 21 and 23 in holding the carrier firmly in place. It will be noted that the free end of the arm 28 is approximately half-way between the plates 21 and 23 so that the pressure exerted by the screw 27 is distributed about equally.

At a mid-point of the lazy tongs and connected to one of the lower pivots 7 so as to be rigid with respect to the lazy tongs, is a strap 29 appropriately shaped to support an intermediate clamp 30 of smaller dimensions than those clamps associated with the ends of the carrier. This intermediate clamp is illustrated in Fig. 5 and comprises an upper arm 32 having a bearing plate at its free end and a lower arm 33, a pivotal element 31 connecting the clamp with the strap 29, allowing tree turning of the clamp. The outer end of the arm 33 has a thumb screw 34 similar to the thumb screws 27. \Vhile the intermediate clamp can be freely moved forwardly to collapsible position, as shown in Fig. 3, and has no means for holding it in an adjusted position relative to the carrier, it would not involve invention to provide a pair of ratchet faces and clamping screw in place of the simple pivotal element 31 which is shown.

At a mid-point of the lazy tongs and also directly above the clamp 31 is a pivotally mounted strap 35 having a loop similar to the loops 9 and 52-2 to receive one of the straps 10. More than one of the. upper pivotal elements of the lazy tongs might be provided with these strap loops and I do not wish to be limited to the precise construction shown. The straps 10 are designed to pass up from the carrier to some portion of the automobile, such as the brackets of the top of the car or to other convenient parts. These straps when so fixed will allow the use of the carrier to hold baggage of great bulk, and will permit mounting of suit cases or other articles, one on top of the other, as high up along the sides of the car as may be desired. By swinging the upright arms into various positions, and by changing the length of? the straps, it will be possible to accommodate almost any size of bundle that it is safe to carry in such a position. The bulky part of the luggage can be carried higher than the running board, thus allowing more chaarance space when driving through brush or in narrow lanes.

Another feature of the invention is the folding or collapsing of the sides. These sides hold the luggage away from the fenders of the car which is an advantage, since many articles will scratch the paint off the tenders and soon make the *ar look very shabby.

What is claimed is:

1. A folding luggage carrier comprising running board clamps, uprights pivotally connected with the running board clamps above the running board, a readily collapsible rack connected to the uprights, and bars pivotally connected to each other and to the uprights and clamps to form sides for the carrier, said rack being prevented by the sides from swinging below the running board.

2. A folding luggage carrier comprising running board clamps, uprights pivotally mounted on the running board clamps above the running board. a folding rack connected to the uprights, folding sides each comprising a pair of bars pivotally connected to each other and to the uprights and clamps, said bars having a length such that they extend in obtuse angular relation to each other when the uprights are vertical, and means for holding the rack structure in the desired angular position with respect to the running board with said rack being in all positions above the running board.

3. A folding luggage carrier comprising running board clamps, uprights pivotally mounted upon the running board clamps, means for maintaining the uprights in adjusted angular position relative to the clamps, a folding rack structure joining the uprights, and folding sides each comprising a pair of bars pivotally connected 1,393,294 lit to each other and to the uprights and clamps, said bars having a length such that they extend in obtuse angular relation to each other when the uprights are vertical.

4. A folding luggage carrier comprising running board clamps, uprights pivotally mounted on the running board clamps above the running board, a folding rack connected to the uprights, and means for holding the rack structure in the desired angular position with respect to the running board, said clamps each comprising a longarm adapted to lie over the running board and having a pair of plates bearing against the running board and a short arm adapted to lie under the running board and having a clamping screw at its outer end, the clamping screw bearing against the running board between the two plates, whereby the clamping pressure is about equally divided between the plates.

A folding luggage carrier comprising running board clamps, said clamps each comprising a long arm adapted to lie over the running board and having a pair of plates to bear upon the running board, and a short arm adapted to lie under the running board and having a clamping screw at its free end, the clamping screw bearingagainst the running board between the two plates whereby the clamping pressure is about equally divided between the plates, uprights pivotally connected with the clamps above the running board, a rack con nected to the uprights, and folding sides each comprising a pair of bars pivotally connected to each other and to the uprights and clamps, said 'bars having a length such that they extend in obtuse angular relation to each other when the uprights are vertical.

- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature.

LAURENCE LOUIS LIMOGES. 

